


Blind Spot

by SirKai



Category: Original Work, schwarz - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-01
Updated: 2012-12-01
Packaged: 2017-11-19 23:58:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/579046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirKai/pseuds/SirKai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The town's new plague doctor is decidedly cross with Pfeifer's excessive sleeping habits.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blind Spot

**Author's Note:**

> A short story featuring Veitstanz' OCs: the plague doctor Zacharias and perpetually intoxicated Pfeifer.  
> http://veitstanz.tumblr.com/  
> http://veitstanz.tumblr.com/ocs

The rat catcher slogged through the debilitated cobblestone street. He was the only one on it, surrounded by buildings of rotting wood and torn paint. It was hard to tell which businesses and homes were still inhabited. Pfeifer stared ahead, not letting his eyes wander too much. He cut through an alleyway in between an inn and a bakery (or at least, they had been an inn and a bakery at one point). The clacking cobblestone turned to crunching, disheveled gravel.

Pfeifer plodded from the alleyway and back into the street, reeling in towards the local pub. He squinted at the sunlight bleeding in between the overhead rooftops. There was a motionless figure in the corner of his eye. Pfeifer glanced at the person as he passed by. Whoever they were, they were tightly wound in cloth and rags, huddled into the corner of someone’s front stoop. The rat catcher continued west for a couple of blocks, and made a mental note to not mention this to that plague doctor. He figured it would end up saving everyone a lot of time. The last thing he wanted was anything to do with that beaked freak anyway.

“Pfeifer!”

His breath froze and his shoulders slouched. “Great...” Pfeifer mumbled. 

The doctor stalked towards him from across the street, brow furrowed and shoulders angled forward. He was carrying a leather bag over his shoulder.

“Where the hell have you been?” Zacharias came to a halt, leaning into the rat catcher. “You agreed to meet me in the square almost four hours ago!”

Pfeifer glared at him with unamused, half-lidded eyes. “I was sleeping,” he said flatly.

“Sleeping?”

“Yeah, you know, the thing you do when your body gets tired and needs rest.”

“You _slept_ until three in the afternoon?” Zacharias’ face twisted into a frozen, horrified scowl. His hands were slightly raised with the gloved fingers outstretched, as if prepared to lunge and claw at the man in front of him.

Pfeifer folded his arms. “I slept until I wasn’t tired anymore.”

Zacharias opened his mouth to speak, and exhaled a lengthy breath to regain his composure. “It is one thing to waste _yourself_ away, sleeping and drinking your body into a filthy stupor, but you agreed to a scheduled engagement with me!”

“Well, I’m here now, so what do you want?”

The doctor narrowed his eyes at Pfeifer, concluding that even a bitter victory is a victory nonetheless. He sighed. “I want you to show me the rats in this city. I need to know their behavior, where they breed, what they eat-”

“What, you mean like, today? Right now?”

“Yes,” Zacharias said sternly. “Today. Right now.”

Pfeifer’s arms sagged limply with groan. The interior of the pub, just minutes away, flashed through his head. “I can’t today.”

“And why is that?” The doctor arched his brow accusingly at Pfeifer.

“Because I ain’t workin’ today.”

Zacharias pressed his lips together into a thin line.

“I only work when it rains. Does it look soggy to you?”

The doctor’s expression dissolved into a stone scowl. “Why do you only work when it rains?” he asked coldly.

“Because then it’s quickest to just gather the rats at the west floodgate.”

“Wouldn’t it make more sense to start from the center of the town?”

Pfeifer cocked an eyebrow at the doctor and scratched at the back of his head. “Eh, no. The whole town is walled in with torches and lotsa people. Rats don’t like that at all. The water in the trenches flows towards the west gate since the city is built at a slant,” he said, eyeing the direction of the gate over Zacharias’ shoulder. “And since rats like to swim, they’ll funnel towards the west floodgate when it rains.”

Suddenly the doctor’s expression was very blank, albeit with slightly widened eyes.

“What?” Pfeifer asked impatiently.

“Oh, nothing, just-”

“Look, you wanna learn about rats, then you learn about rats. What did you expect? A buncha shit you already knew?” Pfeifer watched Zacharias’ eyes dart around for a moment, like he was panicking. He did just want to hear a buncha shit he already knew. He just wanted to be reassured. Those educated types were all the same.

“Rats, of course.” Zacharias said with a humbled nod. He took a deep breath, and looked at Pfeifer feebly. “You’re the expert.”

“Great. Now that we got that outta the way, can I go now?” The rat catcher had already started to take a step forward.

“Fine,” Zacharias conceded. “But the next time it rains, you’ll stop by my office first, understood?” He pointed an aggressive finger as Pfeifer marched past him.

“Yeah, whatever you say.” Pfeifer hated being told what to do, like he didn’t have a choice. Like there was no other alternative. But it was just easiest telling people what they wanted to hear.


End file.
